Federal budget cuts target courts, law enforcement

Forced budget cuts could have an impact on the federal court system ranging from an inability to properly supervise paroled felons to a shortage of money to pay jurors to hear trials.

If the spending cuts known as sequestration last through the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, court employees could be furloughed, trials in civil lawsuits may be put on hold as criminal cases take precedent and court-appointed defense attorneys may have trouble getting paid.

Like other branches of the federal government, leaders in the judiciary have planned for the worst but are keeping fingers crossed that Congress and the Obama administration can compromise before the worst effects of sequestration take effect at the end of the month.

"I think the impact is still up in the air at this juncture and it's going to take a while for any court to come to a decision what they're going to do," said Chief Judge J. Curtis Joyner, who leads the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Congress mandated $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts over nine years, including $85 billion over the next seven months, as part of a 2011 deal to increase the U.S. debt limit. For the federal judiciary this year, sequestration will require cutting $332 million, about 5 percent of its current $6.97 billion budget.

That equates to a 10.4 percent reduction from the court's 2012 fiscal year funding. Sequestration will reduce court salary allotments by 14 percent and other operating budget areas would be slashed up to 20 percent.

In a letter to Congress this month, Thomas F. Hogan, a New York federal judge who serves as director of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, said the cuts cannot be sustained beyond fiscal 2013 "without seriously compromising the constitutional mission of the federal courts."

"Public safety will be impacted because there will be fewer probation officers to supervise criminal offenders released in our communities," Hogan said.

Funding for drug testing would be cut 20 percent and furloughs in the U.S. Marshals Service would mean that courtrooms might not have adequate security, Hogan warned.

The bright spot for the courts is that, unlike other federal departments, their budgeting and management is decentralized and planning is done on the local level. That means the court has been able to plan cuts where appropriate in different districts based on caseloads.

"We have done a good job managing our budgets so we're in a position now that we may not feel it as severely as other districts," Joyner said of the Philadelphia-based Eastern District court, which also has courthouses in Allentown and Reading.

Still, as many as 2,000 employees could be laid off and thousands may be furloughed for one day a pay period, which equates to a 10 percent pay cut, the administrative office of the courts warned.

Judge James Knoll Gardner, who hears cases in Allentown, said that if support staff are forced to take unpaid days off, it will affect the court's ability to efficiently resolve cases.

"It's necessary to work more than a 40-hour work week to get the work done," Gardner said. "But if they can't staff the courthouse for the hours we need, then you might start to see a backlog."

Frank McGovern, president of the federal bar association for eastern Pennsylvania, said delays in the administration of justice could slow down economic recovery as businesses put projects on the back burner to avoid litigation.

While Joyner said it's unlikely that the Eastern District of Pennsylvania would actually suspend civil trials, criminal trials would be given priority because of the constitutional guarantee of a speedy trial for criminal defendants.

Joyner said the court is also working to determine how its response to the sequester would mesh with that of the Department of Justice, which includes federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms.

Attorney General Eric Holder noted in a letter to Senate appropriations committee chairwoman Barbara Mikulski that the U.S. Attorney's Office would be able to handle 2,600 fewer cases as a result of sequestration.

The Federal Defenders Office, which represents people who are charged with crimes in federal court and cannot afford an attorney, faces a 10 percent cut in funding. That is certain to result in furloughs for attorneys and support staff, said Leigh Skipper, who heads the office's Philadelphia branch.

"If furloughs are implemented, they can't work, so clearly it will disrupt schedules. We'll have to ask for extensions of filing deadlines," Skipper said.

And although federal law allows the court to appoint private attorneys to represent indigent defendants when the defender's office has a conflict or is overwhelmed, those lawyers may be affected by the sequester as well.

Marc Fisher, an Allentown attorney who accepts appointments from the court, said he and other lawyers have been warned that if the sequester persists into the summer, they might experience delays in being paid.

"If there is a distinctive belief we're not going to get paid … there is a possibility that some people will not accept court appointments," Fisher said.